With Love
by Tragically Hopeless
Summary: "After all, the thought of a life after this one is what keeps people sane." That and knowing that someone out there loves you, he thinks. Maybe that's why he's still sane. He has someone that loves him and he believes that this life can't be the end.
1. Prologue

**A/N: No, I haven't given up on Reflection or anything like that. The plot bunnies in my head have been reproducing lately, and I won't be able to write Reflection at all until I get at least one of them out. I can't really say that I've had this problem before... Oh well, please review, and enjoy the story.**

**I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of the characters. The plot is my own though.**

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><p><strong>With Love<br>**_Prologue_

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><p>The only way that the room could have been any quieter was if the few occupants of the room suddenly dies, effectively getting rid of their quiet breathing. Not that the topic of death would have been a welcome one, if one of them had brought it up, not now at least. Maybe they would be able to joke about death in a couple of years from now, the same time that they would be able to look back at this without bursting into tears. The first back to school after what happened had been bad enough, especially when Yugi had burst out crying when he saw the empty desk in the classroom. That wasn't even mentioning any of the small things that everyone had noticed throughout the day.<p>

Sadly enough, that had only been a couple of days ago now. The funeral had been a week ago with close to a hundred people showing up to it, surprising for their school. Nobody had even dared to mention Bakura's not too sudden disappearance or that the last time anyone had seen him had been at the funeral. Not even Bakura was able to miss it, in the end.

Now, most of their small group of friends was gathered in the same room, with the only exceptions being Bakura and one other who was only alive in everyone's thoughts. A book with an envelope sitting on top was on the coffee table, and not one of them was able to tear their eyes away from it for even a second. This small book meant so much right now.

"I can start, if you guys want. Then we'll just go 'round in a circle, takin' turns," one of the blondes suggested, picking up the envelope.

He wasn't stopped by anyone as he opened it up, their eyes now glued to him. To go with the main letter was another, smaller envelope inside of it. This one was a bit different from the other one though, it was personally addressed to Bakura. Nothing was said as the letter was put to the side, and the blonde began to read.

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><p><em>Hi everyone,<em>

_I know that it's been a little while. I don't know if Amane gave this to you early or maybe none of you were able to build up the courage to read this until now, so it may have even been years since I saw you for the last time. You guys probably weren't too happy with me once you figured out that I was actually lying about getting better. Don't worry about it too much, because you weren't the only ones that I was lying to. The doctors also thought that I was feeling better. Only Amane and Bakura knew the truth about that._

_I would love to say that I have absolutely no regrets about anything that I did, but I would be lying once again. Of course, I regret things. I regret not telling my mother that I loved her before she left for work that fatal morning. And not getting to do the things that I really wanted to do like finish high school, and have a proper relationship. Even the small things like not teasing Jono one last time, or not setting up another movie night._

_I know that all of you were completely shocked when I told you that I only had a week left, but I can't truthfully say that I was surprised when I found out. I had seen it coming for a little while, the feeling of being eaten alive from this disease had almost consumed me whole not too long ago. That's why I'm writing this. Well, that and to give you the journal._

_As most of you know, Yugi gave me the journal back on Christmas in 2005, almost a whole 3 years ago. He had told me to write down everything bad that happened to me so that I could let it all out, and just vent about it all, so I didn't look so depressed all of the time. However, I found that I wasn't just writing about the bad things that happened to me but the good things too. Practically the whole last year of my life is recorded in this thing and I'd very much appreciate it if you read it, just once. Then give it to Bakura, along with the other envelope in this letter. _

_Please don't be too sad about me leaving this last time, because I'm sure that there's something after this life. After all, the thought of a life after this one is what keeps people sane._

_With Love,  
>Ryou Bakura<br>(Written by Amane)_


	2. September 4, 2007

**A/N: ...Yes, I'm well aware that it's been over 2 months since the last time that I updated this story, and I promise that I'll now start updating regularly again. The reason that I wasn't updating was that I had gotten a job over the summer, and then when I wasn't working I was either trying to get schoolwork done (yes, I was trying to complete courses throughout the summer) or I was just being lazy. So, I'm extremely sorry, and I hope that people will forgive me. I'll be posting a Bleach one shot soon, in apology, and because I feel like it, but whatever.**

**Here's the next (and first official) chapter of "With Love", and I hope that you all will enjoy it.**

**I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of the character involved, what I do own is the plot.**

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><p><strong>With Love<strong>

_Chapter One: September 4__th__, 2007_

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><p><em>Today was my first day of Grade 11, and it went the same way that every other first day of school had gone… well, almost. There were three new kids this year, and they would all find their own groups to hang out with by the end of the week, if they weren't already filling out their transfer papers. And, not as usual, I was one of the kids showing them around because of one of Marik's plans. So, that was all nice and dandy, except for this one guy. The guy actually had the nerve to insult drama class in front of me once he found out I was in it, and then said only 'fags' joined drama. Sure, I may in fact be gay, but that wasn't the point. The point is that Bakura Kaitou is a grade "A" ass.<em>

_I really do need to stop listening to Yugi when he tells me to do things like this. Sure, it was almost a whole two years ago that he told me to but I just found this thing again while tearing my room apart, and I just felt like I had to… I must sound so stupid right now, complaining about some guy that I don't even know. Yugi must have been wrong about this making me feel better._

_Whatever, it's not like anyone is ever going to read this, except maybe me in 5 years from now. In fact, I doubt I'll ever even write in this stupid thing again. Who know, or even cares for that matter?_

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><p>"For most of you, this is either your 2nd, 3rd, or maybe even 4th year here, if you've been especially unlucky lately. So, welcome back to Domino City High School. And for the few of you who are just joining us for the very first time, welcome to Domino City High," our homeroom teacher, Akhenaden greeted us.<p>

The class, which had been full of whispered questions and comments, quieted to allow the teacher to continue. Not that many of us truly cared about anything our teacher was talking about, but by now, all of us knew that if we didn't shut up, the rest of the discussion wouldn't be continued until after the bell rang. Well, at least, most of us knew that.

"For courtesy's sake, could the few of you that are new to Domino High please come up to the front of the classroom? It saves the rest of your teachers from introducing you to the class. These 40 of so students are your only other classmates in Grade 11, after all," Akhenaden continued.

I carefully watched the three lone students that walked up to the front of the classroom, with little interest. It was two guys and a girl this year, but chances are that they wouldn't be here when next September came around. I could just imagine them begging their parents to let them transfer schools by the end of the week. Just like every other new student that graced these halls. Domino High was made up of students that had lived in the area since they started kindergarten, and then the one or two rare students that hadn't gone running to their parent, guardians, or occasionally even social workers. I was unfortunate enough to land in that first category.

"Hello everybody, my name is Rebecca Hawkins, I'm the daughter of Professor Arthur Hawkins, and I hope that you all will treat me well as your new classmate."

Arthur Hawkins? Huh, I'm fairly certain that my own father had worked with him on occasion, and had mentioned something about his daughter being a spoiled brat. She was a short blonde girl, and was wearing glasses that were obviously fake. She also looked like she was about 12 years old, and if my memory served me correctly, I wasn't all that far off. I gave her a week before she ran off to her professor father, begging him to sign her transfer papers.

"I'm Malik Ishtar, and I hope that none of you will get in my way too much. Oh, and I apologize in advance, but I just don't care if any of you are bothered by who I am, and I will not respond nicely if you try and change me."

Great, yet another blond, and a feisty one too. Now all I'm going to hear at lunch for the next week is Jono going off and saying "We got a couple of new blondes in our class, Seto. What, you aren't interested? But you told me that you liked blondes!" This one seems like he would last a bit longer than the usual new student here, but I still only give him four months, tops. Wait, Marik is giving this guy one of his possessive, crazy looks, so I have no doubt the others will leave him alone once they realize that this guy is Marik's new toy. It could go either way at this point.

"Bakura Kaitou. It would be for the best if you just left me the fuck alone."

This guy has white hair, almost the exact same shade as my own hair. He seemed somewhat different than the other two, although the blond guy was a lot closer than the girl. It was like he was more dangerous, or something of the sort. And it wasn't until all three of them went to sit down, without a word being said about the swearing, that I was able to tear my eyes away from him. He would definitely last longer than the other two, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Bakura Kaitou was here to stay.

I could hear Marik chuckling to himself beside me, at what though, I wasn't sure.

"Now, would anyone like to volunteer to show these three students around at lunch today, or do I have to pick someone to do it?" Akhenaden asked, almost sarcastically.

I doubted that he actually expected anyone to volunteer for such a task without there being some sort of award for doing it. It wasn't like I was about to volunteer though, so, I really couldn't say much.

It was then that I felt Marik hand grab a hold of my own, and the only thought that was going through my mind at that moment was 'please no, I don't want to do this' but it was already too late for that. The blonde beside me had brought both of our hands up into the air, much to my own disappointment and the teacher's extreme surprise. I could already hear Jono and Yugi laughing to each other in the row behind us.

"Akhenaden, sir, me and Ryou here would just absolutely love to show them around the school at lunch today. Isn't that right, Ryou?" Marik asked me, a crazy grin stretching over his face.

I sent a glare that hopefully spelled his demise to the crazy blond, but nobody noticed it, except said crazy blond. So, the stupid, unobservant teacher just accepted my forced nod (which was only happening because I knew Marik would break my hand right then and there if I didn't) as if it was completely normal. Either that or he didn't actually care as long as someone was volunteering for it.

Marik finally let go of my hand, and it dropped to the table as I zoned out, not paying any attention to anything the teacher was saying. I already knew everything that I needed to know, Akhenaden was just going over everything because he had to. Well, I knew everything except for my schedule, which was currently being carefully examined by the two troublemakers behind me.

Sooner than expected, the bell rung, telling us all that it was the end of homeroom and all of us exited the room, we would take our sweet time in the hallway. However, when the bell that signified the start of 1st period rung, not even 5 minutes later, everyone was expecting it.

"Why the fuck did you volunteer me for that stupid job, Marik? I don't want to be a part of any of your plans to seduce the new blond guy," I snarled at the tall blond, as I followed him down the hall without another thought.

"'Don't want to be a part of any of plans to seduce the new blond guy' my ass, and like you have any choice but to be a part of my amazing plans. Don't you even try denying the way that you were looking at the so-called bad boy. Besides, I think that you should be more worried about where Tweedledee and Tweedledum went with your schedule for this year," Marik comment, casually.

Just as expected, I look behind me to search for Jono and Yugi, only to find that they had already left us without another word, and skillfully taking my schedule with them. A sadistic laugh from beside me tells me all that I need to know, and that they were never with us to begin with. Also, it told me that Marik had already known that I hadn't even spared a glance at the stupid thing.

"Stop fretting, I took a look at the thing before you handed it off to those two idiots. We have all the same classes, except for our 'C' block, when you have your damn embarrassing drama class with the new teacher," Marik explained, purposely messing up my hair as he continued walking to our next class.

I followed him quietly this time around, not bothering to thank the damn idiot (no way did he deserve it) or wonder why he didn't put that brain of his to better use. That was actually the last thing on my mind because the only thing I could think about was the sight of the snarling new student, Bakura, all through my useless morning classes. Not that any of my classes besides drama had any use to me.

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><p>My morning went exactly like I thought it was going to, horribly boring. The new kid that Marik was obsessed about, Malik, was in both of our morning classes, and the guy was all but drooling over him. Marik, I mean. I doubt that the new kid even noticed when the drool started coming out of Marik's mouth. Or, at least, that's what Marik was led to believe.<p>

I quietly tried to sneak out of the math classroom without Marik, Jono, or Yugi noticing me, suddenly glad that we had been talking a lot. Even if my best and most insane friend (Jono coming in a close second for insane) would be a bit upset with me for skipping out on him, he would eventually get over it. And then maybe my sanity would be saved, along with my reputation for not caring. I had spent too long building it up.

"And just where do you think you're going, Ryou? We have some boys that we need to show around this amazing school of our. One for me to do my dirtiest fantasies to, and… well, let's just say that it will be the other way around for you," Marik demanded, through one arm over my shoulders.

"Are you suggesting that I would let a guy like that give it to me up the ass?" I hissed at him, as he continued to drag me towards the cafeteria.

"I'm not just suggesting that you would let him give it to you up the ass but I'm also suggesting that you would be begging him to do so when the time came around."

"There's absolutely no way in hell that I would ever let him give it to me up the ass, and when have you ever even seen me in a relationship before in my life? I don't care about having a relationship, casual or not, and especially when it's just to satisfy your own twisted fantasy."

Marik just laughed, and that was when I knew that there was no way that he had believed a single word that had just come out of my mouth. Just like how there was no point in trying to shake his arm off of my shoulders (although it was probably just another part of his 'plan'), there was no point in trying to get him to believe me.

We came closer to the cafeteria, and to my extreme surprise, all three of the new students in our grade were standing there. I didn't think that either of the two guys would show up. It seemed like they would never accept any sort of help, even when it was just about where things were in the school.

I still didn't want to do this (although I would most likely be locked up on the roof of the school if I tried running away at this point) but I wasn't about to back out now, for a number of reasons. The biggest reason would be that I would much rather appear to be a goody-two-shoes, than a wimp, especially in front of the new students.

"Malik, Bakura, welcome to our most amazing Domino High. I'm Marik, and this is my moody best friend, Ryou. We're the two people who _willingly_ volunteered to show you around the school today, although you're much more likely to find us skipping class and smoking behind the school before you see us volunteering for anything ever again," Marik introduced us, the crazy smirk betraying his intentions.

Leave it to Marik of all people to completely ignore the only female in the group, who was very obviously glaring at him over the tops of her glasses. Yeah, it was a hundred percent certain that this girl would be gone by the end of the month, if not by the end of the week. I glanced at the other two. Malik was purposely looking absolutely anywhere but Marik's face, but looking at Bakura had confirmed my unspoken suspicions. He was staring right at me, a malicious smile on his face.

"As you've probably noticed, my psychotic friend, here, is lying. I never did 'willingly volunteer' to do this, instead he volunteered me so he could further his own little fantasy. And while you would most likely find me with him behind the school, I would rather not take who knows how many years off of my life by smoking," I corrected with a sneer.

"Excuse me, Marik, was it? What exactly is your problem here? You've been completely ignoring me this whole time, and you keep going off about your extremely bad habits, such as skipping class and smoking, right where any of the teachers can hear you. In fact, we're right across from the teacher's lounge," the blonde girl demanded.

"Eh, did any of you just hear anything? No, you didn't? Someone must have been talking rather loudly as they walked by then. Well, come on then, you two, we should get going or the teachers aren't going to buy my excuse for being late to last block today," my best friend cheerfully stated.

I rolled my eyes, and let Marik lead the small group around the school. He pointed out things that he thought to be more important, such as the bathrooms or classrooms that either didn't have teachers or had teachers that didn't give a shit about what anyone did. However, he left out the so-called 'unimportant' things, such as the library or the band room. So, I quietly walked behind them, occasionally mentioning some of the more important places that Marik had left out. One time, Malik had asked where the art room was, and Marik had actually had to look to me for help on that subject, although, I wasn't much of a help.

After about half an hour or so, we had gone through the entire school (for the most part) with… little to no difficulty. The five of us were now standing in front of the school, while Malik and Bakura were talking to Marik about one of the teachers for a class next semester, and the blonde girl (whose name I finally remember, Rebecca) sulked about being ignored the whole time.

"Hey, Ryou, what's your 'C' block class again? I'm thinking about going over to Yugi's place this afternoon, I know his gramps won't mind," Marik asked me.

"I have my drama class, remember? I can skip though, it's not like it'll be anything other than the class 'getting to know' each other, and when I already know all of the students in my grade… The teacher wasn't lying when he said that the students in homeroom were the only students in Grade 11," I answered, walking over to them.

"Drama class? I thought only dramatic teenage girls and fags did drama in high school, and it's not like you're going to actually get a career that has anything to do with the subject, you're too much of a pushover, _fag_," Bakura taunted, cutting into our conversation.

"I, for one, take offense to that statement, in two different ways. One, my elder sister in the new drama teacher, so, I'll be taking the course too this semester because of that, and two, well, you really shouldn't badmouth homosexuals in front of a homosexual, should you?" Malik taunted, his eyes glinting dangerously.

The group went completely silent, for quite a few reasons. Malik was standing there, his face turning slightly red with embarrassment as he realized what he had just said. Marik's smirk was slowly growing bigger as he comprehended the statement, and just how much his chance had increased. Bakura had a look of shock on his face, which was slowly turning into anger. And me? Well, I was growing more and more angry as I was still trying my best to comprehend what Bakura had just said.

"You fucking asshole, don't insult what or who I love. I don't want to hear that you think that drama is 'stupid' or only for us 'fags' nor do I want to hear you insult my sexuality, and apparently Malik's sexuality. Do you know what? I think that you're just jealous that I'll freely admit this stuff and not give a shit about what other people think. Marik, I'll talk to you later today, don't expect to see me in whatever class we have this afternoon," I ranted.

So, unsurprisingly, I stormed off into the parking lot, without another thought towards what I had just said. Not the most mature thing of me to do, and I knew that, but that guy, Bakura, just made me so angry and I just didn't quite understand why. At least there would be no questioning looks when I got home over 2 hours earlier than normal.


	3. September 14, 2007

**A/N: Hello everybody. Here is another fabulous chapter of "With Love" although it didn't quite turn out the way that I thought that it was going to. Oh well, what's done is done. I should have another chapter up sometime this month but I'm planning on doing the NaNoWriMo this year so I don't know how much I'll be able to update during November.**

**One last note, the first signs of why Ryou dies are in this chapter (if you didn't get that he died from the prologue than I have failed as an author), can anyone guess why he's going to die? Not that's it's overly obvious...**

**As usual, I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of the characters. You could only imagine what would be happen if I did. Also, I do not own Tylenol, it's just the most common type of ibuprofen that I know of. **

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><p><strong>With Love<br>**_Chapter Two: September 14__th__, 2007_

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><p><em>Yeah, I actually wrote in this thing again. And it actually hasn't been a month, or longer, it's only been just over a week ago. Truthfully, ranting in here last week really did make me feel better, despite anything that I had said about the contrary. It was a bit surprising, to say the very least. <em>

_The past few days have consisted of getting back into the routine of going to school and having to wake up to an alarm clock, and then skipping classes when I either feel like it, or Marik decides that he wants to skip class. They've also consisted of hanging out with the new kid, Malik, during the three classes that I have with him, and having random glaring contests with Bakura when the time calls for it, which is every time that the two of us make any sort of eye contact. Not to say that Marik is all too happy with me hanging out with Malik. He keeps telling me to "chase after my own boy toy", much to my displeasure. _

_Oh, and then there was today, which was absolutely horrible, in more than one way. First of all, I had a killer headache, like to the point where I had gone to my knees because of the pain, and I didn't have any painkillers. I couldn't even get any from anyone, because like every Friday, our groups splits up into pairs and goes off for most of the afternoon. So, Yugi was off on a lunch date with Atemu, Jono was somewhere with Seto, and Marik had dragged Malik off for some "alone time". This left me, in pain, and by myself. Like hell I was going to stay at school, and my father had come home for the day today, so I did what I always do in this situation, I went to the abandoned house a couple of blocks away. And of course, Mr. Tall, Pale, and Homophobic was there. It proved that I'm one of the unluckiest people ever._

_The only other thing that I'm going to say about him is that he really knows how to get on my nerves, even if it's not always on purpose._

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><p>I sat in the back of my math class, hoping that the killer headache that I had would just go away, preferably in the next 30 seconds. Not that I would be paying any attention to the work then I already was if I didn't have a headache. Marik glanced over at me from the seat to my left as I winced slightly as the pain did the exact opposite and became even worse, right in the back of my head.<p>

"Don't tell me that you have another headache," Marik hissed at me, and then continuing when I didn't respond, "Fuck, you really need to do something about those. They're not just something that happens every month or so anymore, you idiot. There's something wrong with you, and I'm not taking the blame if your grades drop anymore because of them."

"Nobody would be expecting you to take the blame. That's my own problem," I reassured my best friend, trying my best to act like I was alright.

"Well, whether or not you take the blame, you should still see someone about them. I know that you don't want to admit it, but you know I'm right," the blond pressured me.

"How about we make a deal then? I'll go see a doctor about my headaches when you even admit to absolutely anybody that you have an addiction, and that it may be a problem, not only to your health, but to your mental stability."

My best friend shut up at the mention of his addiction, and he started to stare at the front of the classroom, refusing to even glance at me. Talking about his addiction was definitely a low blow on my part, but so was Marik trying to get me to go to see a doctor when he knew that I had hated them for years.

That was another problem with our school. Almost all of us had problems (it's hard not to have problems when you live in the absolute worst part of town), and none of these problems were pleasant, in any way. We were made up of the poor, abused, abusive, addicted, broken, hurting, and the mentally unstable. Hell, quite a few of the people at this school landed under all of the categories.

"Ryou, I've got some Tylenol in my backpack, if you really need it. I know that you have your own stash of them in your locker, just in case you do get a headache, but I noticed that you were getting really low when you took some a few days ago," Yugi asked me, with his usual look of absolute innocence.

I noticed Marik twitch slightly, as he slowly began to work himself up. Chances were that I would be getting it after class, if not sooner. I hadn't bothered to tell him that I had a headache like this earlier in the week, and there was no doubt in his mind that I should have told him that it was getting worse than he thought it was. And then from there, he would be taking me to some walk-in clinic in the area. As if I would really let that happen.

"You really don't need to worry about it, Yugi. I'm more than certain that I have some left but I'll come to you if I don't, okay?" I answered, with a fake smile that I hardly ever wore.

"Alright, just don't forget that I'll be going out with Atemu at lunch today, so you probably won't be able to get a hold of me until last block, at the earliest," he responded.

I nodded, ignoring the not-so-subtle reminder of our Friday tradition to break off into smaller groups. Normally, I wouldn't have been worried about it because none of Marik's past "toys" had actually agreed to going out for lunch with him. But today, that wasn't as true as it had once been. Malik had actually agreed to his offer, so I was left o find somewhere to relax by myself, or almost drown in pain if I didn't have Tylenol.

Apparently Marik had decided that he couldn't wait until the end of class to lecture me about not telling him. "Why didn't you tell me that you had another one of those god damn headaches last week? I would think that by now, I would have a right to know about these things," he hissed at me.

"I didn't tell you about it because you always freak out about it. And then you always go and take more of your sister's Xanax, or go out and buy some morphine or any other strong pain medication from whoever is willing to sell it to you. All of that torture to yourself, just so you can have a few moments where you aren't worrying about the disease that you think is causing this," I respond, with just as much venom in my voice.

"Don't you dare go and turn this all back on me. We both know that you aren't some selfless idiot who only looks out for other people and never yourself. I bet the real reason you won't go see a doctor is because you're scared to admit that there might be something wrong with you."

"He is right about all of that, Ryou. You really are a selfish person, but while he says that you're too scared to admit something might be wrong, I just think that you're too proud to admit it," Yugi added in.

There was no way that I was about to respond to any of that. They thought that I was either too scared or too proud to admit that there was something wrong with me? That was complete bullshit. I didn't want to admit that there might be something with me, because there was nothing wrong with me, except for an illogical fear of the doctor. They were just stupid headaches.

If I were to say that the rest of class went by quickly, I would be downright lying. Each minute went by with excruciating pain, and it only made it worse that I didn't have any sort of distraction. So, I put my head on my desk, closed my eyes, and tried my very best to attempt to sleep through the rest of class.

Finally, the bell rang, and Marik and Yugi were the first ones out the door in their excitement to see the people they were crushing on. On the other hand, I was the last one out of the classroom, and I walked as fast I was capable of to get to my locker.

"9, 17, 32," I muttered underneath my breath, as I unlocked my locker.

My locker was almost empty, with the only things in it being a jacket that I had brought to school earlier today and a couple of binders from my other classes. I reached up to the top shelf, expecting to find a small bottle of Tylenol. Except I realized, as I ran my hand over the whole shelf, that it wasn't there, and there was a small piece of paper in its place.

The piece of paper was like any other piece of paper, I quickly realized. It was a piece of lined paper, and the only reason it held any significance to me, was because it had a quickly written "I owe you" written on it, in Yugi's writing. It now made perfect sense to me. Yugi had offered the pain medication as a twisted attempt at making up for the fact that he had stolen my Tylenol from me.

After ditching my binder from math class, and then locking up my locker, I stormed off to find someplace to drown in my misery and pain for the rest of lunch, and most likely the rest of the day. Normally, I would just go back home for the rest of the day but my father had burst into the house this morning with a promise of eating dinner together before telling me that he would be leaving again tomorrow morning. And there was no way that I was about to be lectured about skipping school by a man who had skipped out on the majority of my life. That meant that I had to find somewhere in the area to hide out for a little while.

The more that I thought about it, the clearer it became that there was only one place in the area that was quiet, peaceful, that I was allowed to sleep at, and most importantly of all, no one would be able to see me, and that place was the abandoned house just a couple of blocks away. Nobody ever went inside the place, mostly because of the rumors that a white haired ghost had been seen in it, and had been the murdered son of the last family who lived in the house. Most of the rumors had actually been started by yours truly.

So, I quickly walked over there, and then entered the 2 story house by the window in the back of the house. It would lock properly, so it made for the perfect way to break into the house, other than the front door which I preferred to keep locked at all times. That discouraged most of the idiots that decided that they wanted to prove that the rumors were false.

The house was quiet as it usually was, but as I walked into the living room, I found a familiar looking person lying on the couch that I had dragged inside one night. To be more specific, the person was unusually pale, had white hair the same shade as mine, and violet eyes that I hadn't noticed until now.

"What the fuck are you doing here? You shouldn't have even known about this place, never mind how to get inside!" I shouted at the shocked teen on the couch.

The white haired teen that looked so similar to me quickly sat up, and kept opening and closing his mouth, but he couldn't get the words to leave his mouth. As I looked around a bit more, I noticed the open bad of chips and the pop sitting on the small table beside him. Those were only some of the things that I had brought over to this place for when I needed a place to hide out, not for when he needed to hide out.

Finally, his mind caught up to his brain, and he answered my question, "What do you mean that I shouldn't know about his place? I found the back window unlocked a few days ago. It's not like the place belongs to you, anyways."

"Ha, this place belongs to me more than it belongs to anyone else in this useless town. It's -."

I stop myself, partially because I don't want him to know why I come here and partially because I suddenly remember about that horrible headache that I still have.

"It's what? Don't just stop in the middle of a sentence, you fucking idiot."

He makes me want to scream, mostly at him and partially at the world, and he makes me want to tell him all of my reasons but I can't, no matter how much I want to. An increasingly sharp pain stabs through my head, and my hands slowly move up to clutch at where the pain is coming from. I barely notice as my body falls to its knees, and I just try to distract myself by focusing on the pain coming from my lip, even as the metallic taste of blood fills my mouth. And then Bakura is lifting me up, and I try my best to tell him not to take me to the hospital but a mumbled mess is all that comes out of my mouth.

"Don't… take me to… the hospital," I finally force out of my mouth.

"I'm not taking you to the god damn hospital. Although I probably should because you look like fucking shit right about now. But you'd probably have another hissy fit because of that," he reassured me.

Except it wasn't much to reassure me. All sorts of questions still ran through my mind. If he wasn't taking me to the hospital, then why had he picked me up, and why was he taking me out of the house? Was he like everyone else that I knew, who always assumed that there was something wrong with me, and thus needed to see a doctor of some sort? Or did he actually understand that I didn't want to see a doctor, no matter what the circumstances?

"Where are you taking me? It's not like I trust you, asshole," I spit out, as the pain subsided a bit.

"We're going to go to my house where you can take some nice pain medication, and then possibly talk to my brother, the not quite a doctor idiot who ran out of money for university with only 2 years left of medical school, if you want. After that, well, you can take a nap but I don't really give a flying fuck what you do after that, as long as you don't throw yourself off a bridge or some other stupid shit like that," Bakura explained.

He was bringing me to his house so that I could have some Tylenol that he had at his house? Why the fuck was this guy being so nice to me? Last time that I had checked, the guy hated me for my guts because of the last time that we had talked. Or, at least, that's what Marik had told me.

So, why should it matter to him that I was in pain, unless he had some sort of reason behind it? Maybe he wanted me to let him hang out at the house when he was in need of a place to be alone. Or maybe he just thought that I was a damsel in distress and that that it was up to him to help me out. The possibilities were almost endless.

"I am able to walk on my own, you know," I commented, finally coming to a bit more and realizing that he was in fact, walking around town with me in his arms.

"It's just easier for me to carry you. You'd be lagging behind like the dumbass you are, and I'd rather that we just get this done and over with now," he responded.

I just gave up, and let him carry me, which showed just how much pain I was in. Marik had told me once that getting me to allow myself to depend on other people was like getting Seto to admit that Jono was more than a friend to him or like getting Atemu to part with the gold pyramid that always hung around his neck. And both of those things were damn near impossible.

"Hey idiot, stop moping, we're here already," Bakura informed me.

Nothing else was said as he walked up to the front door. I wasn't surprised when I found that the house was just like every other house in this part of town. Run down, old, and had most likely been a crack house at one point in time. I doubted that the insides looked much better.

"Akefia, come to the god damn door! I know that you're just sitting on the couch, watching television, and being a depressing little ass," Bakura yelled at whoever was inside, most likely his brother.

It took a couple of moments, but the two of us could clearly head the sound of someone walking through the house, while they talked to someone else, most likely themselves. The door opened, revealing a tanned, white haired man with dark violet eyes, so similar to Bakura's. He was gorgeous, just like Bakura admittedly was, but it was a darker beauty, accented by the three pale scars on one side of his face.

"Stop staring at him, ass. He's just somebody from school who has a literally crippling headache. I was just bringing him here so that he could have some Tylenol and then maybe take a nap or something," "Akefia" gave Bakura an exasperated look, "I was already skipping school, and I had run into him while he was skipping school," Bakura clarified.

"I guess that I can't blame you for it because high school is boring as hell but just don't make it too much of a habit. Oh, and watch out, kid, the last person who went into Bakura's room didn't leave until days later, and I have yet to figure out why they didn't," Akefia informed me.

"Are you sure it wasn't just because his room smelt so bad that they kept passing out because of it?" I asked.

The older of the two brothers just laughed, but Bakura obviously didn't think that my joke was very funny because he started to walk away, with me still in his arms. I tried my best to block out the pain as it came back as he carried me somewhere, most likely to his bedroom. It seemed that my suspicions were right because I was dropped onto a bed, which was a lot comfier than my own bed at home.

"I'll be back in a minute. Just let me go get you the Tylenol from the kitchen," he grumbled.

I nodded slightly, and surrendered myself to the warmth of the bed. The whole bed smelt exactly like the teen who had been carrying me for the last 15 minutes or so, and it was unlike anything that I had ever smelled before. That didn't matter though, because the scent made me feel safe for the first time in a long time. My eyes drifted closed, and I quickly fell asleep.

Hours later, I woke up and there was nobody around. It took me a moment to realize what was going on, that I had been carried around by Bakura, of all people, that I had allowed myself to be babied by him. So, I did what I always did when I came upon a situation that I didn't like. Like a little kid, I ran out of the house as fast as my feet could carry me.

* * *

><p><em>P.S.<em>

_I don't know why I let myself be babied by him, but it sort of scares me. Why did my defenses lower while I was around him, when I can't even lower them when I'm around my close friends? What is he doing to me?_


End file.
